"Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." Recap: "One Door Closes"

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

After last week's giant and sweeping set up on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. regarding the "real" S.H.I.E.L.D. and their sheer disdain for Coulson, we were treated to a grand payoff this week as the battle for this storied organization came to fruition and of course it happened in explosive fashion in the fast paced and surprisingly grim "One Door Closes." 

But before we get into the mess that played out on our television screens, we did spend a lot of time with Skye last night and her painful journey in solitude at a house that was revealed to be a retreat and safe place for Bruce Banner to deal with the Hulk. During her stay, the mysterious Gordon arrives to explain how he and his band of Inhumans can help her understand her powers and help her grow them. But with Skye clearly hesitant toward his offer, Gordon lets her know she can call upon him at any time and leaves her be, a choice that pays off at the end of the show. 

But while Skye considers Gordon's offer, the battle for S.H.I.E.L.D. is about to begin and we were treated with a lot of backstory in this episode. We learned that on the day S.H.I.E.L.D. fell, Bobbi, Isabelle Hartley (in an awesome Lucy Lawless cameo) and other S.H.I.E.L.D. remnant did their best to complete a mission that Fury gave to Bobbi aboard the very carrier they now call their home base. It turns out that Gonzales was the commander of this boat, Mack was the chief engineer, and this is also the day that Bobbi decided there would be no more lies in this agency and rather than follow her original orders to scuttle the ship...they fought to re take it.

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Why was this relevant? Because putting an end to secrets, and the fact that Coulson has them all in Fury's toolbox is the "real" S.H.I.E.L.D.'s goal and as Bobbi returns to the base to find the toolbox, Coulson confronts Mack, letting him know he found the scanner in toy Lola and wants to know who he is working for. Alas he doesn't get to discover the truth from Mack, since Gonzales and his team assault the base with Bobbi's help. It leads to a confrontation between Gonzales and Coulson after the dust has settled and the base is seized where Gonzales reveals his distrust for Coulson thanks to the alien blood in his veins and that he wants the toolbox to put an end to threats like Skye and possibly Coulson once and for all by getting Fury's secrets out into the open. 

It gives May a chance to send Coulson away to keep S.H.I.E.L.D. alive and a chance to warn Skye, since they are headed to retrieve her as well. But she manages to escape in impressive fashion, sending a controlled shockwave into Bobbi and Gonzales lackey Calderon before asking Gordon to take her home. The episode ends with Hunter meeting Coulson in a bar in the tropics where the two of them form an alliance to take care of business like only they can.  

Have to say that I'm quite intrigued with the back half of this season becoming so incredibly xenophobic toward characters with Skye's style of talents and last night in many ways brought it to a head. After all Simmons has been building up that fear for weeks but to see that the Gonzales led portion of S.H.I.E.L.D. is like this as well is nothing short of shocking. I'm not quite sure yet what it is building toward, but it is clear this theme will be coming to a head on the show for sure. Plus as I mentioned before the dark cloud surrounding this show is back since the whole episode had a heavy feel around it, and well...I loved it. Yet, despite the awesomeness of this episode, in many ways it felt like a part one of a big time story arc. After all, Coulson is on the run from his own organization since they have seized the base and well...Skye is in one strange place and I'm dying to see where the story goes from here. Until next week my friends. 

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